Seeking Sisters
by Sneakysnail
Summary: Separated as teenagers Chrissy and Francine haven't seen each other in years but could that be about to change? As Chrissy moves from town to town in search of her sister, Francine is on a journey of her own. But will the sisters eventually meet or will their paths never cross, leaving them wondering for the rest of their lives. Maybe the residents of Oakwood town can help...
1. Chapter 1- Moving Day

Chapter One - Chrissy

Moving Day

At least the journey had been pleasant this time. That irritating cat that Chrissy always seemed to run into (did he live on the train or what?) had been nowhere to be seen and she had managed a good hour's nap on the journey to yet another new town. As she stepped onto the platform at her destination the station porter greeted her warmly and handed her a map of the town. What was it called again? Oakview, Oakland, Oakley? Chrissy had stopped taking much notice about three towns ago.

"Eek, would you like some help with those boxes there Miss? Eeek." Came the friendly yet irritatingly squeaky voice of the porter.

"Oh, that would be wonderful, if you don't mind." Chrissy replied with a smile. Usually she would have carried them herself but this time around she had bought herself a cliff top house overlooking the beach, and it was an awfully long walk from the station at the top of town.

"Of course." The porter squeaked as he bent down to pick up the boxes full of Chrissy's life time possessions.

Chrissy took a deep breath and emerged from the station into her new town. A sickly sweet smell washed over her face in the spring breeze followed by a torrent of cherry blossom petals.

"Eeek. As you can see, we have cherries here in Oakwood as our natural fruit, but the mayor is working on an exotic fruit orchard at the right side of town." The porter, turned tour guide, announced from behind a stack of boxes. A good sign, Chrissy thought to herself, the mayor was active in the town, not like some of the abandoned villages she had lived in previously.

Chrissy and the porter continued their journey through town, stopping occasionally to re-stack the boxes or wave to a nosy local. It was in the middle of town that Chrissy noticed a large coffee shop, The Roost, or something like that. She allowed herself a little smile for the first time since leaving the station, she did enjoy a hot cup of Blue Mountain in the mornings. Next to the coffee shop there was a big house, probably the mayors, and then a smaller house in the same style. It was unusual to have more than one human in a town Chrissy puzzled to herself.

"Who lives over there, in the little house?" Chrissy asked, attempting to point but thinking better of it when her boxes started to slip.

"Oh, that's Dan's house, he's here making paths for the mayor at the moment. And that's her house next door, the fancy one." The porter replied.

"So your mayor is very busy then, it seems. Lots of projects on the go." Chrissy tried to muster some enthusiasm for her new home town.

"Oh yes! Eek, Meg is a brilliant mayor. The best we've ever had here in Oakwood." It was clear from the porter's voice that he admired this Mayor Meg and it gave Chrissy some hope that her new town would be somewhere she was proud to call home for once. She remembered some of the desolate places she had lived in the past and also the luxury life she had known growing up in the city. How far she had come, not only in distance, but also as a person she had been on a long journey.

"Your house is just over that bridge Miss, see not far now, eek." The shrill squeak of the porters voice brought Chrissy out of her daydream and back to Earth.

Inside the house Chrissy set about unpacking all her furniture and belongings she had been lugging about all day. At long last she was 'home'. It had been a long and tiring day and as night fell over the town of Oakwood, Chrissy lay down on her comfy bed and pulled out a scrunched up old photo from her pocket. A tear fell from her pink cheek and dripped onto the photograph as she clutched it to her chest. She lay down to sleep with her head full of thoughts and the faint hope that a new town always brought her.

Would Chrissy ever be reunited with her long lost sister Francine?

...

Hope you liked the first chapter guys, any comments would be appreciated. More to come soon and we'll be hearing from Francine later in the story as well. Will they find each other after all these years?


	2. Chapter 2- A Cold Morning

Chapter Two – Francine

A Cold Morning

It was another cold and frosty spring morning in another new town. Francine had arrived late the previous night, ironically in the town of Moonlight. It had been too dark to get a good look around town and besides, Francine was worn out from the train journey as usual. Pulling on her fleece and warm boots, Francine emerged from her tent pitched at the town camp site. So this was Moonlight. Town number 46 in the copy of '100 Towns to See Before You Die: Volume 4" that Francine clutched in her hands.

"Come to Moonlight during Spring and observe the beautiful cherry blossom trees that fill the town with pink petals. Have a taste of a Moonlight cherry under the stars, we promise they taste even better when you're looking at the moon! Unwind and relax with a picnic by the river in our new picnic area or do a spot of fishing off one of our many bridges." Francine read aloud the entry for Moonlight in her book. She had flicked to a random page during her last stop to decide where to go next and it had landed on this one. Moonlight wasn't really her sort of town, too pink, too perfect, too man made. From what she remembered of her sister though, it sounded exactly like the sort of town she would live in, so she had made the long train journey here without complaint.

The cold morning air had put the residents of Moonlight off getting out of bed that morning so Francine had the town to herself as she explored the sights. With only two days in town there was a lot of exploring to do before she moved on to somewhere new. The town was full of flowers, all pink and white and not a weed to be seen no matter how hard Francine was looking for one!

"Would it really kill them to have a blue flower or a yellow one somewhere in the mix?" Francine thought to herself as she unenthusiastically walked through the town. "Their insect life and biodiversity must be so awful, there's no habitats here at all!"

It was at that moment that a swish of a net and a bumbling shape caught her attention in the distance. Was that cat trying to catch a butterfly? She was making an awful job of it if she was.

"Hey, you'll never catch it like that! Let me help you." Francine called out to the stranger as she pulled her net out of her pocket and jogged over to the butterfly. With one swoop of her net, Francine adeptly caught the critter and tucked it safely in a bug box before handing it to the cat.

"Here you go. I make my living selling bugs, so I'm pretty good at catching 'em. You've got a beauty of a tiger butterfly there. Not worth much though." Francine explained to the stranger.

"Oh, I don't want to sell it dear." Came the reply from the cat. "It's to show off to all my friends when they come for afternoon tea later. Tiger butterflies are very fashionable at the moment you know."

Francine resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Trust this town to be based on vanity and showing off." She thought. "Rather than anything of value."

"Many thanks for helping me catch it, it'll look stunning on my regal table. I don't think we've met before, have we? I'm Monique." She had the kind of face and tone of voice that made you feel about two inches tall and unworthy of her company but travelling was lonely and Francine was in the mood for a chat, so she bit her tongue and smiled politely, as her mother had taught her to do all those years ago.

"Francine." She began. "I'm staying in the camp site for a couple of nights, beautiful town you've got here." She wasn't lying, it was beautiful, if you liked that kind of thing.

"I see. Thanks, it's all the work of the mayor. So what town are you from then?"

Francine was convinced that Monique was literally looking down her nose at her but she continued the conversation nonetheless.

"I don't have a permanent town, I just have my tent, my clothes and my radio. Whatever fits in a backpack." Francine started and observed the raising of Monique's eyebrows. If they went any higher, they'd probably fly off her head. "I'm on a round the world journey, trying to see as many sights as possible. And look for my little sister. We got separated when we were teenagers and I've not seen her since." With that, Francine lowered her head and allowed memories to flood over her. Playing happy families in the tree house with Chrissy and the kangaroo twins from next door. Swimming in the stream and having to carry her little sister home when she was too tired to walk. Sharing their favourite K.K. Slider songs after bed time. Hiding under the stairs and holding Chrissy to her chest when mum and dad argued. Hearing the order from the courts that Chrissy would stay with mum and Francine herself would go with dad. Years spent in the old RV. Pulling up in other towns, cooking beans on toast and singing campfire songs with dad. Never knowing where Chrissy was. And still not.

When her parents had split it was decided that Francine would live with her dad. They didn't have many bells and they lived in an RV going on adventures together. It was an exciting life for a young teenage rabbit. Dad taught her everything she knew. How to sell insects, fish, fruit, anything for bells. But she missed Chrissy more than anything, more than she missed her mother. She had watched the pain her mother caused her father when she decided to leave and take one of his daughters with her. Francine didn't think she'd ever forgive her for that. She promised herself and her father that when she was old enough, she'd travel the world until she found her sister. And so here she was. In the town of Moonlight, having lost count of how many towns she had tried.

"You haven't heard of her, have you? Chrissy. A little pink polka dot rabbit?" A tear threatened in Francine's eye as she asked the question, but she was stronger than that and she gulped back the lump in her throat.

"Terribly sorry but I haven't." Came the reply from a now quiet and apologetic Monique. "And I know a lot of people dear."

There it was, the snooty tone was back. Francine was done with this cat. She turned and headed towards the famous picnic spot she had read about in her guide book. Sitting on the soft Spring grass she flipped to the page about Moonlight, tore it out and tossed it into the river.

"Better luck next time." She whispered into the breeze.

...

Hope you are enjoying the story. Please comment if you are! Here we get a taste of Francine's back story but it seems a bit different to Chrissy's don't you think?


	3. Chapter 3- A Warm Welcome

Chapter Three – Chrissy

A Warm Welcome

Chrissy awoke to the sound of the mailbox pinging to let her know she had mail. A letter on her first morning in town? She hadn't even met anyone here yet except the station porter and she couldn't imagine he was much of a writer. Confused, Chrissy flung on her dressing gown and went to retrieve her mail. In the letter box was one letter with a small parcel attached to it. The letter was handwritten on official looking paper and the present beautifully tied with a red bow. The chill of the morning air crept around Chrissy's dressing gown and she hurried back indoors with her mysterious letter. When she got indoors she found her bedsheets were still warm, so she quickly hopped back into bed and tucked herself up to get warm again. Then it was time to open the letter and gift, who could they be from? Propped up on a pillow Chrissy delicately opened the envelope and removed the letter.

To our newest resident, Chrissy,

A warm welcome to Oakwood town! I hope you have settled in alright, apologies I couldn't be there to meet you at the station yesterday. I trust Porter did a good job in my absence. I include a little welcoming present, hope you like it! I'll pop round to your house about 11am to introduce myself and show you around.

See you later,

Mayor Meg.

Placing the letter down on the bedside table, Chrissy moved on to the present. How kind of the mayor to send her a surprise. She certainly hadn't had a welcome like this in any other town before. Undoing the silken bow, the paper fell away to reveal a sapling and a name plaque with Chrissy's name engraved on it. A tag written in the mayors hand was tied to its stem.

Please plant me and watch me grow! When I'm big you can put your name plaque at my roots and then there'll always be a little bit of you in this town.

"What a lovely gesture!" Chrissy thought to herself. "The mayor wants us all to put a little something of ourselves into the development of the town." Chrissy was touched. She couldn't wait to meet this Mayor Meg and thank her for making her feel most welcome in her new town.

Chrissy busied herself at home during the morning, dusting and cleaning and moving furniture around. She was so focused on what she was doing that she nearly didn't hear the knock at the door. Whipping off her cleaning apron, Chrissy smartened her clothes and went to the door. In front of her stood a simple looking girl with mousey brown hair, cut short, and big brown eyes peeping through a large pair of spectacles. She wore a striped t-shirt under a dungaree dress with some bright stripy tights and what appeared to be yellow welly boots. An unusual outfit, thought Chrissy, but it seemed to work on Mayor Meg.

"Hi, you must be Chrissy, I'm Meg. It's lovely to meet you, how are you finding Oakwood, have you met anyone yet? Sorry, so many questions, I just get excited when somebody new moves into town." Mayor Meg rambled as she stepped into the doorway to give Chrissy a hug.

"Mayor Meg, it's great to meet you! Thanks so much for the gift and the welcome and it's a beautiful town and no I haven't met anyone yet but your town is so lovely and I can't wait to-"Chrissy was stopped mid garble by Mayor Meg.

"Oh please, call me Meg, I can't abide the title Mayor Meg. I might be the one who does the paperwork but we all work equally hard to make Oakwood a nice place to be." Meg was so full of confidence and Chrissy was so full of nerves. "You're welcome by the way, for the sapling, I like to think of all our residents, past, present and future leaving a little bit of themselves here with us. So we don't forget a single one." Meg smiled a big smile and then paused for a moment, as if maybe remembering a past resident or imagining a future one. "Shall I take you on the grand tour then?" She beamed at Chrissy, all but eliminating her nerves.

"I'd really love that Meg." Chrissy replied to the mayor and returned her beaming smile.

Strolling around town, the pair engaged in light chit chat stopping every so often for Meg to point out a fountain or a bench or something else.

"As you can see," Mayor Meg explained through mouthfuls of freshly plucked cherries. "We've been working really hard with our public works projects. But there's still a lot more I'm hoping to achieve here with the resident's help. They keep me so busy! Always popping up suggesting new projects and asking me to run little errands. Of course, I don't mind, if you ever need anything just let me know, I'll gladly help best I can." Meg finished and wiped her cherry juice covered hands down her overall dress.

Chrissy looked alarmed as she stared at the big red splodges that now covered the mayors dress.

"Oh, this old thing!" The Mayor laughed. "Don't worry, it's only my gardening dress, I've another the same at home, that's my good one."

Chrissy smiled to herself, this Meg girl was quite something.

"Mind you, it does look a little like I've murdered someone now!" Meg joked and rubbed at the stains making them worse. "You're my witness now, okay? You know it's just juice." Meg laughed at her own humorous comments and Chrissy laughed along with her pondering how much she reminded her of her own sister Francine. A bit of a wild one, but always happy and genuine and kind, and oh so funny. The smile on Chrissy's face threatened to leave her in place of a worried frown but Meg interrupted her train of thought.

"Anyway, we best get moving. I've got a meeting with Isabelle later and there's someone I'd like you to meet first. I think you two could be good friends." Meg's upbeat voice and the thought of a new friend kept the smile on Chrissy's face as they headed towards a house on the river bank.

...

Chapter three here for you guys, hope you enjoy!


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